1. Field
One or more embodiments of the present invention relate to video encoding and decoding and, more particularly, to a video encoding/decoding apparatus and method for varying the spatial resolution of frames at a predetermined interval in a video sequence composed of a plurality of frames, encoding the video sequence to generate bitstreams and decoding the generated bitstreams.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional moving image encoding methods include MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 established by ISO/IECSC29/WNG11 MPEG (Moving Picture Expert Group) that is an international standards organization and H.261, H.262 and H.263 established by ITU-T SG16/Q6 VCEG (Video Coding Expert Group) that is another international standards organization. MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 established by JVT (Joint Video Team) that is a joint project of MPEG and VCEG is a representative standardization technique in current video compression. Furthermore, SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) established VC-1 video compression standardization technique.
These standardization techniques employ a method of reducing computational complexity in a decoder while allowing complicated computations in an encoder. However, an encoder with high complexity is not suitable for environments in which a user personally produces contents or performs communication in real time because the encoder requires an excessively large computational load to perform motion estimation and compensation to result in a delay in an encoding process.